SWU-Phinma cruises to tenth straight victory in Cesafi men’s basketball tournament
There’s just no stopping the Southwestern University (SWU)-Phinma Cobras as they won their tenth game in a row with a clinical 79-72 romp over the University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) Panthers in the 16th Cesafi men’s basketball tournament on Sunday evening at the Cebu Coliseum.
Leading by just three, 39-36, at halftime, the Cobras came out of the dugout looking like men on a mission and uncorked a 13-2 blast led by two-time MVP Macmac Tallo that opened up a 52-38 lead. They eventually held USPF to just seven points in that entire stretch to bring a 61-43 lead to the final frame and pave the way for the easy win.
Tallo finished with 21 points, including five in the said stretch that was capped off by a gorgeous left-handed layup, where he spun his defender around in lightning-quick fashion. He also had three rebounds and three assists.
In high school action, the University of the Visayas (UV) Baby Lancers kept their bid for an outright spot in the semifinals alive with an 86-49 rout of the SWU-Phinma Baby Cobras.
The victory was UV’s sixth in eight games with one more game to play against last year’s runners-up, the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Baby Jaguars.
A win against USJR will give UV a ticket to the semifinals alongside the three-time defending champions Ateneo de Cebu Magis Eagles, which finished the elimination round with an 8-1 (win-loss) record.
Jhiey Paraldo led UV with 16 points while burly forward Jancork Cabahug had a near triple-double of 14 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists laced with three blocks and two steals. Froilan Maglasang also had 14 points while Roosevelt Jellianggao stepped up with 10 points, four rebounds and four steals for a UV team that was missing two vital cogs in suspended cagers Joshua Yerro and JJ Rosete.
SWU-Phinma finished the elims with a 3-6 card.
The Cebu Eastern College (CEC) Dragons also gave themselves a shot at the last semis ticket with a 67-48 win over the Cebu Institute of Technology-University Wildkittens.
CEC is now tied with both UC and Don Bosco at 6-3.